









































27

Technical Services
Michael Bradford, Harvard Library, Acting Secretary

MEMBERS PRESENT

Since this was an online meeting open to any interested individual, 
attendance was not taken.

AGENDA

1) Reports
2) Updates on Atla Funnels
3) Online Conversations via Video Conferencing
4) Election of Steering Committee Members
5) Open Discussion on Suggestions for Next Year’s Conference

REPORTS

Theology Cataloging Bulletin (TCB) Update
Christa Strickler (Wheaton College) will be taking over Ann Hein-
rich’s roles of providing lists of “New and Changed LC Subject Head-
ings and Other Terms” and “New and Changed LC Classification 
Numbers.” The new TCB editor, Cindy Snell (Columbia International 
University), was unable to attend this meeting. Christa reported 
conversations among the editorial board that hope to broaden 
TCB’s audience to include not just catalogers but a range of techni-
cal services folks.

Report on CC:DA
Donna Wells (Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) gave 
an introduction to what the CC:DA (ALA Committee on Cataloging: 
Description and Access) does. Donna serves as Atla Liaison to the 
committee, which is a nonvoting position. The committee typically 
meets at ALA Annual and Midwinter. Because ALA Annual was 



28  A NNUA L Y E A RBOOK

virtual this year, the meetings will be virtual as well, beginning in 
July.

REPORT ON THE ATLA FUNNELS (NACO/SACO/CONSER)

Richard Lammert (Concordia Theological Seminary) reported that 
the SACO Funnel now has two active members and, in the last Atla 
year, produced ten new LC subject headings. Michael Bradford 
(Harvard University) reported the CONSER Funnel statistics for the 
current LC fiscal year to date.

ONLINE CONVERSATIONS (CARRY-OVER FROM LAST YEAR’S 
MEETING)

It was discussed and recommended that any online discussions 
not just replace the Tuesday evening discussions but also possibly 
provide an ongoing quarterly discussion throughout the year via 
Zoom meetings.

Leslie Engelson suggested that a useful topic would be how our 
areas in the library are dealing with COVID-19—a prescient topic. 
Betsy Polakowski likes that this is an accessible and no-cost way 
of keeping up-to-date with what the TSIG is doing, especially for 
folks who don’t have the support to attend Atla Annual. She also 
suggested possibly an option to have a computer in the room during 
the in-person meetings at the annual conferences. John Thompson 
suggested broadening the conversations beyond cataloging. Folks 
in smaller institutions wear multiple hats and “cataloging” people 
often work in areas beyond cataloging.

TSIG STEERING COMMITTEE ELECTIONS

Richard Lammert (Concordia Theological Seminary) reported that 
two Steering Committee members are cycling off (Ondrea Murphy 
and Ann Heinrichs). He placed a notice in the latest TCB but got no 
nibbles. He asked for interested volunteers to run for election, but 
there were none at the Annual. A few attendees expressed interest 
and asked questions regarding time commitments. The Steering 
Committee can meet separately and appoint members in lieu of an 
election at the business meeting. 



Interest Group Meetings  29

SUGGESTIONS FOR TOPICS TO BE PRESENTED AT NEXT CONFER-
ENCE (OPEN DISCUSSION)

• John Thompson – Impact of the use of discovery systems on the 
work of catalogers (Koha was given as an example).

• Leslie Engelson – Best practices for customizing and implement-
ing discovery layers.

• Ellen Frost – There are two library schools in the Fort Worth 
area (University of North Texas and Texas Woman’s University, 
both in Denton). Perhaps we can reach out to someone there to 
make a presentation at Annual.

• Armin Siedlecki – RDA update 3R will have been in place for 
several months; its impact on our work would be a suitable 
topic.

• Christa Strickler – Organizational structures/delineation of 
tasks within technical services departments. What works and 
what doesn’t work?

• Andrew Kosmowski – Institutions creating their own subject 
headings that are too specific for LCSH (650 _7 $2).

• Richard Lammert – How can we mesh this with the SACO funnel 
and getting subject headings established in LCSH for everyone 
to use, not just the local institution?

• John Thompson: Providing access to e-book Bible commentaries 
where e-book vendors don’t provide good/any subject headings 
that are relevant to the individual books/verses of the Bible.

OTHER

• Ellen Frost brought up in chat: “WRIG is interested in work-
ing with TSIG to develop a list of catalogers who are language 
proficient and may be able to help with cataloging in vari-
ous languages related to world religions. Are we interested in 
putting a list like this together?” There was no objection; Rich-
ard Lammert will follow up on the TSIG list.

• Additional information from the chat: To join the electronic 
discussion lists for the TSIG or for Alma users, send an email to 
connect@atla.com; Atla Staff will add you.

mailto:connect%40atla.com?subject=


30  A NNUA L Y E A RBOOK

2019–20 GROUP: [pictured, left to right] Richard Lammert, Donna Wells, Betsy 
Polakowski, Stephen Spencer, Alice Runis, Christa Strickler, Andrew Kosmowski, John 
Thompson, Seth Miskimins, Armin Siedlecki, Leslie Engelson, Brinna Michael, Becky 
Givens, Michael Bradford, Ellen Frost


